Bulog to Import 50,000 Tons Vietnamese Rice
23 July 2014 17:36 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Bureau of Logistics (Bulog), Indonesia's state-owned company that deals with food distribution and price control, plans to import 50,000 tons of rice from Vietnam by the middle of this year. Bulog director Sutarto Alimoeso told Tempo yesterday that the import was decided in a closed coordination meeting in early July.
In the meeting, the government decided to reopen rice import after the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported a production decline caused by the early year flooding and the drought in the middle of the year.
In its' 2014 forecast, BPS said rice production would reach 69.87 million tons, down 1.98 percent from last year's 71.28 million tons. The estimate was 4.48 percent lower than the government's production target of 73 million tons.
In addition to the decline projection, Bulog's domestic rice procurement is lower than last year. The bureau's data shows that, as of July 18, the year-on-year volume of rice procurement was 1.86 million tons lower.
When reviewing a major retailer in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta two days ago, Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi said he had instructed Bulog to import rice to secure the domestic supply.
Lutfi refused to say how much the volume and the price would be, but, he said that the "imported rice will be of premium and medium grade".
AYU PRIMA SANDI
